Not so much, considering
Monday, January 29, 2007
COMPARED TO Emporia’s big projects — the Granada restoration, the Peter Pan playground, the ESU Endowment — the drive to rebuild the miniature train at Soden’s Grove is small potatoes. Those projects need hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to reach their goals.
The Sertoma Club is trying to raise just $20,000 to replace the diesel generator and drive motors on the train, which club members say is good for only a few more runs. The money is not much in the greater scheme of things, and almost nothing when measured against the years of pleasure and pride the train has given to the people of Emporia.
Without the repair, the train will judder to a stop and never move again. Perhaps, like the wonderful one-horse shay, it will just disintegrate and leave the engineers and passengers sitting on little piles of dust along the tracks. That would make a great photo for The Gazette, but it would rob the children of today and tomorrow of a wonderful experience.
On a spring or summer evening, the train offers its young riders something close to magic. The track curves over the green grass and through the shade of great trees of the park. Sometimes, over the noise of the engine, the riders can hear the birds in the trees, the cries of the animals in the zoo and the murmuring rush of the nearby Cottonwood River.
The miniature train is not a historic piece of architecture like the Granada, but it holds a special place in the minds of many Emporians. It is one of the amenities that make Emporia a good place for children and their parents.
The Sertoma Club is asking people to do what they can — to donate any amount — to help raise the $20,000 the club needs to keep the train running for years to come.
It is not a lot of money as such things go, but the return on the investment will be great.
Donations to help rebuild the train may be sent to: Sertoma Club of Emporia, Miniature Train Fund, P.O. Box 593, Emporia KS 66801-0593.